Gundolf Köhler

Gundolf Köhler (27 August 1959 – 26 September 1980) was a German far-right terrorist who planted a bomb at the 1980 Oktoberfest in Munich, killing 13 people (including himself) and injuring more than 200 in what is known as the Oktoberfest bombing.

Biography Köhler was born on 27 August 1959 in Schwenningen, Baden-Württemberg; his mother was 40 at the time of his birth, and his father 55. His parents, Werner and Martha Köhler, had an agricultural business near Eilenburg in Saxony until they moved in 1952 to the small city of Donaueschingen, Baden-Württemberg. After their youngest child, Gerald, drowned in 1957 aged 5, the couple decided to have another child. They gave birth to Gundolf two years later.

At 14, Köhler participated in events of the NPD, a neo-Nazi party, and was a member of the Wiking-Jugend (Viking Youth). From 1975 onward, he took interest in paramilitary activities and established contacts with the Wehrsportgruppe Hoffmann (WSG Hoffman), a neo-Nazi far right anti-government militia. Köhler also started to experiment with chemicals, and he was severely injured in the face in an accidental explosion in 1975. The following year, he took part in violent confrontations led by the WSG Hoffman. Köhler participated twice in military exercises with the group.

Köhler earned his Abitur in 1978, then served for three months in the West German army. He attempted to be trained as an explosive expert but his project was eventually rejected due to a hearing disorder. In 1979, he began to study geology at the University of Tübingen, in Baden-Württemberg. He was however not completely isolated at the university: Köhler played in a student's band and maintained contacts with the Tübingen University Students Circle (Hochschulring Tübinger Studenten), a right-wing student group known for brutal confrontations with leftist students.

In 2020, a senior investigator told Süddeutsche Zeitung that "the perpetrator acted out of a right-wing extremist motive ... Gundolf Köhler wanted to influence the 1980 parliamentary election. He strived for a dictatorial state in the image of national socialism." A portrait of Adolf Hitler was found hanging above his bed after the attack.